Region 7
by winterseasalt
Summary: Clarke Griffin never expected to fall in love with a cadet guardsman from Section 17. She grew up on the Ark's Alpha Station, surrounded by society's upper classes, but since she started her medical training and met Bellamy Blake, she's begun to question her way of life. Clarke is shocked when she discovers that Bellamy and her best friend Wells have both been keeping secrets.
1. Chapter 1: Assignment Day

Clarke Griffin was having a lot of trouble sitting still in her chair. Today was her Assignment Day, when the Ark's Council would select her work placement. She'd already spent twenty excruciating minutes waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Relax Griffin," Wells Jaha said softly from his chair beside her as he placed his hand on Clarke's bouncing knee to settle her down.

"How are you not nervous?" Clarke demanded.

"What's the point of being nervous?" Wells asked with a wink in her direction as he slid his arm from her knee to the back of her chair. Clarke rolled her eyes at him as he added, "we've done everything we can at this point. It's out of our control."

That was the part she couldn't stand; things being out of her control. Clarke had been studying non-stop for the past two years to complete the Ark's General Education credential a year early, desperately hoping that all of that ambition would show the Council that she was ready to become a medical apprentice.

Clarke shifted anxiously in her chair and glanced down at the tablet she was holding. Five minutes. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she waited. She heard the door to the ceremony hall swing open behind her, and swivelled her head to catch sight of Raven Reyes strolling calmly into the room.

"Where have you been?" Clarke hissed as Raven took the seat on her other side.

"What are you talking about?" the dark-haired beauty asked. "I'm early."

"Aren't you nervous at all?" Clarke marvelled.

"Honey, I'm the perfect mechanic," Raven answered her with a cocky smile. "Where else would they possibly assign me?"

She knew Raven was probably right - that girl had an undeniable talent when it came to fixing things. Clarke's father was the Ark's Head of Engineering, and he'd had his eye on Raven for at least the last five years. She knew she shouldn't be so worried. Her mother was the primary physician on the Ark and a councilwoman, and the Chancellor was a close family friend. She had to believe that both of them would vote for her to be assigned to Medical. It was terrifying to consider any alternative. If she was going to be trapped on the Ark for the rest of her life, Clarke at least wanted the opportunity to do something she found interesting.

"Hey Tinkerbell," Clarke heard a familiar voice and turned to see her father grabbing a chair a few rows behind her.

"Hey Dad," she called back with a smile and a wave.

"You got this sweetheart," her dad said encouragingly, shooting her a thumbs up and a crooked smile.

Clarke took a deep breath and glanced down at her tablet again. One more minute. Sixty seconds until the rest of her life was decided.

The door to the adjoining room creaked open and the Council members entered the chamber to take their places at the head of the hall. Clarke desperately tried to catch her mother's eye, but Dr. Abigail Griffin wasn't looking at her.

"All rise – Chancellor on deck!" Boomed the voice of Councillor Marcus Kane, as Wells' father, Thelonius Jaha came into the ceremony hall and stood behind the podium. Clarke stood up with her friends to acknowledge the Chancellor's entrance.

"Welcome, citizens of the Ark, to this Assignment Ceremony," Chancellor Jaha's smooth voice rang out. "Please, be seated."

Clarke could barely stop herself from shaking as she sat back in her seat. Wells placed his arm on the back of her chair again. It was something she noticed he'd been doing a lot lately.

"Congratulations to our new graduates," the elder Jaha continued. "Your positions on the Ark have been chosen based on a variety of factors. We've studied your test results, job requests, teacher recommendations, and personality evaluations in order to determine these assignments."

Clarke felt like she might hyperventilate. She grabbed Wells' hand and he shot her a curious smile from his chair.

"Finn Collins, Galley," Clarke didn't miss Raven's frown beside her as Chancellor Jaha announced Finn's new work assignment. Finn stood up and took a bow while a couple of kids seated at the back clapped mockingly for him.

"Monty Green, Engineering," Jaha read from the paper he was holding. Clarke knew her name was next.

"Clarke Griffin, Medical," Jaha announced and Clarke let out an explosive breath. Her mother finally looked over at her proudly. Clarke could hardly believe it was happening – she'd been chosen for Medical!

"Wells Jaha, Earth Monitoring. Jasper Jordan, Farming. Zoe Monroe, the Guard. Raven Reyes, Engineering."

Once the rest of the assignments had been read and the ceremony had been concluded, Clarke hugged Raven and Wells. "We all got what we wanted!" She said excitedly.

"We got what we're suited to," Wells corrected her good-naturedly.

"I'm going to be a doctor!" Clarke said it out loud for the first time. It felt good.

"I'm going to spacewalk!" Raven said, equally excited.

"I'm going to stare at a planet simmering in radiation and enter data readings into spreadsheets for the rest of my life!" Wells quipped jokingly, but Clarke and Raven both knew that Earth Monitoring was his dream job because Wells was a total nerd.

"We're going to have to celebrate tonight!" Clarke's dad said as he approached the group of excited teenagers and wrapped her in a hug. "I'm so proud of you Tinkerbell!"

"Thanks Dad," Clarke couldn't stop smiling. Normally she would have been embarrassed that her dad had called her Tinkerbell in front of her friends, but not today. This was the beginning of the rest of her life and it was headed in the direction she'd always dreamed.

"Just a reminder everyone!" Thelonius Jaha shouted over the noise of excited graduates in the room, "There will be an Assignment Celebration tonight for you and your families in the Mess Hall. I hope to see you all there!" The Chancellor then made his way over to congratulate his son, while Clarke's mom rushed down to hug her from the stage.

"I am so proud of you sweetheart!" her mother cooed.

"Thanks Mom," Clarke replied with an uncontrollable smile.

Abby Griffin wore her thick hair pulled back in a ponytail, her blue eyes sparkling as she beamed at her daughter. "Why don't you head back to our unit and get ready for the celebration tonight? I have a few more hours in Medical before I'm free for the rest of the day," Abby suggested.

"And I have to get back to Engineering just for a minute," her dad added.

"Sure, sounds great!" Clarke smiled. She scooped up her tablet from the chair and said a quick goodbye to Raven and Wells.

Clarke left the Go-Sci Ring and headed to the adjacent Alpha Station where she lived with her parents. The Go-Sci Ring was also home to Medical and Earth Monitoring, so she and Wells would both be working and living on the upper levels of the Ark for the rest of their lives.

Clarke knew she was lucky to live on Alpha. It was at the top of the hierarchy of stations that made up the Ark, and because both of her parents held important positions, they were privileged to live in a two-bedroom unit with a private bathroom and a family common area. She held her wrist up to the access panel next to the door of the unit which beeped happily in approval as it scanned her implant chip and the door to her unit slid silently to the side for her.

She headed for her bedroom to pick out an outfit for the evening celebration, and was surprised to see a brand new dress laying on her bed. A brand new dress on the Ark was, of course, not brand new, but most likely fashioned out of other pieces of clothing or some other item that had been submitted to the repurposing station after it stopped being useful at whatever it was originally designed for. Clarke tossed her tablet onto her bed and held up the dress which she was sure her mother must have gotten her as an Assignment Day gift. Although Clarke's family was one of the most prominent on the Ark, a new dress was a very rare treasure. This brought Clarke's total wardrobe up to three dresses, five shirts and three pairs of pants.

The dress was beautiful, and obviously made by a master. It was white – probably made from pieces of an old bedsheet that had been bleached - with beautiful blue flowers sewn onto it. Clarke slipped out of her simple black pants and green long-sleeve and into the dress, admiring how it flared out at the waist.

Instead of showering that morning, Clarke had saved her water allotment for the afternoon so she could prepare for the party. Her family's unit was rationed two five-minute showers every day; because her mother was a doctor, she was one of a handful of people on the Ark who was permitted a daily shower. Clarke and her dad split the remaining showers, alternating every other day, and toady was her day. She knew that her shower privileges were a luxury compared to the rest of the Ark. Citizens on the outer stations were permitted to shower once per week or even less if the mechanics were working on any of the ship's water recyclers.

Clarke laid her dress carefully on the bed, and headed to the bathroom to clean up. When she stepped out the shower, she spent some extra time detangling her wavy blonde hair which typically decided on its own whether or not it was going to behave on any given day. She wanted to wait for her hair to dry a bit before she finished getting ready, so she placed her towel on the floor next to her bed, then laid down sideways across it on her back with her head hanging over the edge so her hair could drip-dry onto the towel. She picked up her tablet and started scrolling through the Ark's daily news.

 **Seven New Graduates! Results of Today's Assignment Day!** Clarke wasn't surprised to see the assignments listed as the top news item of the day. New assignments only happened four times every cycle and it was a big deal to everyone on the ship to know who their new colleagues were. She scrolled through the brief article until she saw her name listed. **Clarke Griffin – Alpha Station – Medical Apprentice**. She felt her heart jump a bit at seeing it in print for the first time. She was really going to train to be a doctor. She frowned when she saw the name above hers: **Finn Collins – Mecha Station – Galley Assistant**.

Clarke knew Raven and Finn had been incredibly close growing up; Finn had essentially saved her life by sharing his ration points with her while her mother drank herself into oblivion. A few years ago, they'd finally started dating and Raven had been the happiest Clarke had ever seen her until Finn cheated on her with a girl named Roma from another station. It had been a messy break-up, but recently Clarke had noticed them spending a lot of time together again.

 _Congrats again on Zero G_

Clarke typed out in a message window to Raven on her tablet and pressed the send button.

 _Thanks, Dr. Griffin ;)_

Raven responded almost immediately. Clarke knew that meant she was probably sitting around with her tablet waiting to hear back from Finn.

 _Medical Apprentice, not a doctor yet. How's Finn?_

Clarke didn't really want to ask, but she knew that the longer Raven stewed by herself, the more upset she was going to get, and she wanted her friend to enjoy her Assignment Day.

 _Who knows? He won't talk to me about it. He's being an ass again._

Raven's message popped up on her screen.

 _Shocking._

Clarke reread her response and thinking it may have been a bit harsh, she added: _maybe he just needs some time?_

 _Maybe. Or a swift kick to the balls._

Good, Raven was joking. Clarke knew that was a good sign.

 _Haha. Maybe that too. Let me know if you need anything. :)_

 _Thanks, Doctor :)_

Clarke reached back to feel her hair which was still too damp to do anything with, so she continued browsing on her tablet. Tablets were another luxury that only high-level stations enjoyed. Every citizen who lived on Alpha, Phoenix and Mecha was assigned one on his or her fifteenth birthday, but there weren't enough tablets for everyone on the Ark to have their own. The outer stations all had common rooms with giant screens for watching films that had been made on Ancient Earth or watching messages from the Chancellor. If they wanted to search the Ark's databases for information or read a novel, they could use a few communal tablets in the library, but they weren't allowed to check them out. Clarke did sometimes feel guilty that her family had three tablets and some families had none, but she also loved being able to read anything she wanted whenever she wanted. Clarke was a voracious reader.

She pulled up one of her favorite ancient texts to read while her hair finished drying. She'd first read Wuthering Heights a few weeks after receiving her tablet, and despite all of the extra studying she'd done in the past year, she'd somehow managed to reread it four times since then. Clarke had intended to read just until her hair had dried, but as so often happened when she was reading, she lost track of time until she received a message from Raven two hours later.

 _Meet you in the mess hall in 10?_

Shit! Clarke looked at the clock and realized she had to hurry.

 _On my way!_

She quickly shot a message back and jumped off the bed to pull on her new dress. Her hair was dry, so she pulled it back into her trademark half-up style, slipped on her fancy pair of shoes and hurried back into the bathroom to check her reflection in the mirror. Her hair wasn't perfect, but it also wasn't a nightmare. The dress was spectacular. Whoever had made it from her mother's measurements had really done incredible work. Clarke gave a little spin in the mirror and admired how it clung to her in all the right places. She was going to have to think of a way to show her mom how much she appreciated this gift.

She arrived at the Mess Hall eight minutes later in a rush to find Raven. She was breezing passed the door when a deep voice barked out, "Hold it right there!"

Clarke turned around and came face to face with a tall young man with slicked-back black hair and an angular face staring down at her trying to look intimidating. She ran her eyes down his face to his guard uniform and noticed the "CADET" badge displayed proudly on his chest. That explained why he didn't know who she was. All of the regular guards who worked on Alpha Station recognized her. As she lifted her eyes back to his face she realized he'd also given her a once-over, and she felt herself blushing under his gaze.

"ID chip," the man commanded, still trying to look intimidating.

"Here," Clarke said flippantly as she held out her arm, put off by the tone of assumed authority in his voice. "I'm Clarke Griffin."

"I know who you are," he said as he looked down at his handheld scanner and ran it over her wrist.

"Then why are you scanning me?" she asked.

"Protocol," he answered without looking up. He was silent for a moment while he studied the scanner screen. "Nice dress," he said with disdain.

"Am I good to go?" Clarke asked impatiently. "Or did you want to stand around and talk about what I'm wearing all night?"

The guard looked up from his screen. "I don't much care what _you're_ wearing," he said with a note of disgust in his voice, "I just recognize the work of the seamstress."

That threw her for a loop, but she was late to meet her friends and didn't have time to worry about it. She'd met cadets infatuated with their newfound power as guards before. Typically, they were from the outer stations, and after a few encounters with Alpha citizens they realized that their new uniform didn't elevate them quite as much as they'd anticipated.

The young man was clearly enjoying the fact that he was holding her hostage. She glanced at his name tag underneath the word cadet. **_Blake_**.

"Listen, _Cadet_ Blake," Clarke challenged him. "I have a party to go to, and if you haven't figured out how to use your scanner yet, I don't really have all night to wait around."

Cadet Blake clenched his jaw, tilted his head to the side and opened his mouth to respond, when suddenly a guard Clarke recognized approached them.

"Clarke," the older guard greeted her with a smile. "I saw you were assigned to Medical today! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Sergeant Miller," Clarke responded with a warm smile. David Miller was one of her father's best friends, and his son Nathan was a few years older than Clarke. Their families often watched Earth movies together in her unit's common room.

"Well why aren't you inside the hall enjoying the party?" Sergeant Miller asked her as he glanced over at the young recruit who looked a whole lot more nervous than he had twenty seconds earlier.

"I was just getting to know Cadet Blake here," she replied, a smile still plastered on her face. Even though the rookie guard had rubbed her the wrong way, she knew that criticism from someone in her position could get him in trouble, which she didn't really want to do. "And congratulations to you too! I saw Nate graduated from his level one guard training this week!"

"We're very proud of him," Sergeant Miller said with a nod and then waved his hand towards the mess hall doors, "Well, head on in!"

"Thank you, Sergeant," Clarke said with a smug glance at the younger guard.

As she passed Cadet Blake she heard him mutter angrily, "Enjoy your party, _Princess_." Clarke could not believe his nerve! She had just saved him from a write-up or possibly worse from his superior officer and he was still being a dick. She whipped her head back around but Cadet Blake had already turned to scan the next party guest.

"Clarke!" She heard Wells' voice calling to her and searched the room for him, quickly forgetting about Cadet Blake. She spotted her friend sitting at a table with Raven, Finn, and Finn's mother. She headed towards them quickly, happy to see that Raven and Finn seemed to have gotten over whatever issue they'd had earlier in the day.

"Hi Mrs. Collins!" Clarke said enthusiastically as she sat down next to Wells.

"Hello Clarke," Mrs. Collins responded with what looked like a forced smile. Clarke assumed she wasn't thrilled with Finn's new future as a vegetable scrubber.

"Guess what," Wells said to Clarke.

"What?" Clarke replied.

"Word on the street is they're serving us peaches for dessert," Wells said excitedly, "your favorite!"

"Yum!" Clarke said with a smile. "What street though?" she asked her friend and he laughed.

"Okay, okay," Wells said, always willing to play her games, "word in the hallways."

"Much better," Clarke told him approvingly just as her parents joined the table.

"Attention!" Thelonius Jaha's voice boomed from the front of the cafeteria before she had a chance to greet her mother and father, "and welcome all to the Assignment Day Feast."

The room quieted as everyone turned to the front to listen to the Chancellor.

"You should all be proud of your children. They are now citizens of the Ark."

Clarke tried to look like she was paying attention while Jaha talked about their future lives as productive members of society, but her mind kept drifting back to her interaction with Cadet Blake. She glanced briefly in the direction of the door and realized he was staring at her. Clarke looked away quickly.

"Hey," Wells nudged her gently. "What's up with you?"

"Nothing," Clarke responded with a shake of her head. "I'm just excited," she continued with a smile. Jaha's speech had ended and he joined their table in the seat next to Wells as chatter rose from the tables around them.

"Chancellor Jaha," Finn's mother greeted with a nervous nod. Clarke knew she would never have dreamed of sitting at their table if Raven hadn't been so close with Clarke and Wells.

"Thelonius," Jaha said with a quick gesture of his hand, "please, call me Thelonius."

"Sorry, Sir," Mrs. Collins replied with a nervous nod.

"Finn," Jaha turned his attention to the young man. "Congratulations on your assignment today."

"Congratulations?" Finn snorted, "on becoming a scullery boy?" Clarke was pretty sure she saw Raven kick him under the table.

"Absolutely," Jaha said emphatically. "All positions on the Ark are equally important."

"Oh really?" Finn challenged. "Then why do some citizens get to live on Alpha and others have to live in Section 17?"

"Finn Collins!" Mrs. Collins yelped before Jaha had a chance to respond. "You apologize immediately to the Chancellor!"

Finn crossed his arms and shook his head.

"It's alright," Jaha said to Finn's mother before turning back to Finn. "Young man, there are certain duties on the Ark that require citizens to perform at a higher level than others. And while all duties are equally important, we must make sure that those performing the more difficult duties are afforded a lifestyle where they can properly rest to perform those duties."

Finn rolled his eyes. "So you're telling me a farmer who does physical labor for twelve hours a day deserves less rest than a politician who sits at a desk?"

Jaha shook his head, about to respond, when Finn pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. "Whatever," he said, "I don't much feel like celebrating my future tonight."

"Finn!" Raven called out as he started to walk towards the door, but Finn didn't turn around. Mrs. Collins looked absolutely horrified.

"Chancellor Jaha – Thelonius – I am so sorry! I don't know what's gotten into him! I'll talk with him," she sounded panicked.

"It's alright Evelyn," Jaha said calmly. "It takes some longer than others to understand the importance of their work, especially if they didn't get the assignment they were looking for."

"Even still," Mrs. Collins said, "I'll give him a good talking to." She stood up and started after Finn.

"I'm going to go with her," Raven announced sadly, pushing her chair back from the table. "Good night, everyone," she said with a wave.

Clarke racked her brain for something to say to break the awkward tension at the table when a server arrived with dishes of chicken, potatoes, carrots and a whole bowl of peaches. Clarke was excited to see that chicken was on the menu; meat was usually reserved for very special occasions on the Ark. She felt a bit guilty that Raven and Finn were missing out on the chicken.

"To our new graduates!" Jake raised his glass.

"To Wells and Clarke!" Jaha chimed in as everyone remaining at the table raised their water to toast.

"So Wells," Jake began as he scooped a generous helping of potatoes onto his plate, "what are you most excited about doing, working in Earth Monitoring?"

Wells considered his response carefully before answering, "I think what I'm most excited about is the potential to learn something new. Something that isn't already written in the history databases on the Ark."

"Excellent motivation," Jake complimented.

"And you're set for a great future," Abby added with a smile and a glance at Clarke.

Wells took a sip of his water and peered over at Clarke. "The future is something I'm very, very excited for," he replied softly.

Clarke almost choked on the piece of chicken she'd been chewing. She'd been best friends with Wells for as long as she could remember, but recently it seemed like people kept implying there was more to their relationship. Or that there would be more in the near future. Clarke was only seventeen, and while she loved Wells like a brother, she just wasn't sure she felt that way about him, or that she ever would. Maybe it was one of those things that eventually came with adulthood.

"And Clarke honey," Jake continued, obviously sensing his daughter's discomfort, "I'll bet you just can't wait to start your first shift in medical tomorrow?"

"I am so thrilled," Clarke replied, happy for the change in conversation. "Mom, do you know what time my shift will start?"

"You'll receive your official schedule via your tablet sweetheart," Abby smiled at her, "but I have it on good authority that most medical apprentices start out on night rotations, so probably not until after dinner."

"Looks like we're going to have to let you sleep in tomorrow," he dad chimed in.

"Jake, I've been meaning to ask you about the engineering reports you sent over to me yesterday," Jaha said, "the air circulation data tables were particularly interesting to me … "

Clarke stopped paying attention to the conversation and really dug into her meal. She doubted there was much she could add to a conversation about engineering. She paused for a minute to pull out her tablet and check to see if she'd been sent a schedule.

Wells looked down at his own tablet. "My shift in Earth Monitoring doesn't start until twenty hundred tomorrow," he said just to Clarke. "Maybe we can grab dinner together before that?"

"It says I start at twenty-one hundred in Medical, we should definitely grab dinner," Clarke agreed before polishing off the rest of what was on her plate.

"Well, I'm not sure we need to panic just yet – " her dad was saying to Jaha.

"Panic about what?" Clarke interrupted.

"Nothing Tinkerbell," her dad smiled at her, "we're just double checking some safety features, doing due diligence, all of that."

"Ok," Clarke smiled, trusting her dad. She waited until everyone else at the table was finished with their main course before she reached for a peach from the bowl.

"Mmm, I love peaches," Clarke gushed as she chewed the first sweet bite.

"I might have a made a special menu request just for you," Jaha told her with a wink before biting into his own peach.

"Thanks Uncle Thelonius!" Clarke smiled at him.

"Don't thank me," Jaha said with a conspiratorial look at Wells, "someone else suggested it."

"Thanks Wells," Clarke said to her best friend. Wells smiled back.

 _Dude, you will not believe what Finn just said to me. He's an unbelievable dick._

A message from Raven popped up on Clarke's tablet. It was frowned upon to have tablet conversations during meal times, but Clarke knew Raven was probably desperately in need of someone to talk to.

"If nobody minds," she said to her parents, Wells and his father, "I think I'm going to excuse myself for the night. Raven wants to talk," she gestured to the tablet.

"Honey – " Abby started before Jaha interrupted her.

"Certainly Clarke," Jaha said, "please let Raven know how happy I am that she's been assigned to Engineering."

"See you for dinner tomorrow," Wells said, handing his peach to her. Wells always saved his peaches for her.

Clarke grabbed the peach with a smile. "Good night, Nerd."

"Night," Wells smiled back at her.

She made her way over to the door, wondering what her first day of training would cover. Clarke wanted to be prepared.

"No food leaves the hall," a newly-familiar deep voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Holy Earth," Clarke said with a sigh as she turned around to face Cadet Blake, once again. She knew the guards enforced the Mess Hall rules pretty stringently with the outer stations, but she often left with snacks for later. Cadet Blake was standing next to the doors with his arms crossed, looking very serious, and Sergeant Miller was nowhere in sight.

"I don't make the rules, Princess," he said humorlessly. "Your people do. I just get to enforce them." He held out his hand implying that if she wanted to leave she had to give him the peach.

Clarke knew she could have just given him the peach and walked away. Or she could have wasted her time arguing, but she still had to call Raven and she really wanted to get some sleep before her first day tomorrow. The problem was she didn't want to back down from his power trip.

"You know what," she said sweetly, "if this peach means soooo much to you," Clarke raised the peach to her mouth and took a slow bite, the juice seeping out and trickling down her chin, "you have it," she passed him the peach and turned around, still chewing as she walked away.

After a few steps, Clarke glanced back and saw the cadet carefully wrapping the peach inside of his jacket. He looked up and caught her watching and he immediately looked away, embarrassed. Clarke suddenly felt awful. She'd done that on purpose to put him in his place. Not that she would normally treat people from the lesser stations poorly, but he was just so damn arrogant she'd wanted to shut him up. She knew he probably thought she'd stand in the Mess Hall to finish the peach, like someone from Farm Station would have done, but she'd wanted to show him that one measly peach didn't matter to someone with her status.

Except now she'd seen the shame in his eyes and realized that he obviously did need that food. She stood still for a moment staring back at him and trying to think of a way to apologize, but he refused to make eye contact so Clarke turned around with a sigh and a guilty conscience and headed back to her unit.


	2. Chapter 2: Perjury

Clarke slid off her shoes before carefully removing her new dress and hanging it in her room. She grabbed her tattered pajamas and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror next to her bed. She paused for a minute to stare at her reflection. _You weren't a very nice person today_ , she thought as she studied her own face.

 _Cadet Blake wasn't exactly friendly_ , she argued with herself mentally, shaking out her blonde hair. _But I guess that last blow was a bit low,_ she conceded.

Clarke sighed as she pulled on the pajamas and moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She stared down at the toothbrush in her hand and the baking soda toothpaste next to the sink, hit with the realization that this was another luxury that citizens on the outer stations had to leave their units for. She finished up in the bathroom and returned to her bed where she'd left her tablet.

 _You almost ready to talk?_ There was a message from Raven waiting on the screen.

 _I'm ready now,_ Clarke typed out quickly. A few seconds later the tablet vibrated in her hands as Raven's name popped up on the screen: **Raven Reyes requesting Video Chat**. Clarke accepted the call and suddenly Raven's face was on the screen in front of her.

"Aww, Griffin," she said teasingly, "you got all dressed up for me!"

"Ha," Clarke snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. I didn't want to wrinkle my new dress in bed."

Raven looked up at someone Clarke couldn't see and said, "What are you staring at?"

"Why are you rolling around on the floor in the hallway, Reyes?" Clarke heard the voice of John Murphy, who she still couldn't see on the video chat.

"Piss off and keep walking cockroach," Raven swore at him before she turned her attention back to Clarke.

"Where are you?" Clarke demanded, wondering why her friend would be anywhere Murphy would have been that late at night.

"I'm in the hallway a few doors down from Finn's," Raven admitted sheepishly before explaining, "I needed to vent without him overhearing."

"You guys had a fight, didn't you?" Clarke already knew the answer.

"He told me he's thinking about not reporting to his post tomorrow. Then he tells me that he doesn't care what the Ark says and it doesn't matter. What does that even mean? If he doesn't report he'll be breaking the law, and he's 18 now – "

"Raven, Finn's not that stupid," Clarke tried to reassure her. "He's just being dramatic. He's pissed he got assigned to Galley."

"I know, but it's his own damn fault," Raven said angrily. "I've worked my ass off to pass the Engineering exams, you studied like crazy to graduate early. Finn just floats through everything so they gave him a job with no responsibility."

Clarke knew that Raven wasn't wrong, but she still wanted to make her feel better. "He'll be ok Raven. It sucks for him right now, but it's not the worst job. At least they didn't stick him in sanitation."

"I'm worried he's going to do something stupid," Raven bit her bottom lip.

"We'll stop him. He'll come to his senses," Clarke promised.

"I hope so," Raven sighed and paused. She hesitated before she said, "I got an important message from the Chancellor's Office today."

"You did?" Clarke asked.

"Yeah. They're moving me into my own unit in Phoenix, now that I'm an engineer."

"Raven!" Clarke exclaimed, "that's amazing!"

"I guess so," Raven didn't sound as sure. "I'm just kind of sad about leaving the Collins', they're family now."

"I get that," Clarke said, "but you'll only be one station away and you'll have such a nice place!"

"Yeah," Raven said slowly, "I don't know. I kind of feel weird about it. They took me in after my mom – she – they've just really done a lot for me."

"Raven, they'll understand. They're going to be proud of you."

"I hope so," Raven didn't look convinced. "Anyway, it's getting late and I need to get back in there before Finn starts to wonder where I am and we start a whole new fight." Raven rolled her eyes.

"It's all going to be ok Raven," Clarke tried again to cheer her up. "He'll get used to everything after a few weeks. Good night."

"Good night, Doc," Raven said with a wink, disconnecting from the conversation before Clarke could reiterate that she was only an apprentice, not yet a doctor. Clarke set her tablet down on the charging pad next to her bed and settled in under the blankets.

 _She greedily inhaled as much air as her lungs allowed, holding it in and savoring it for a moment before expelling it to get more. Earth's air was sweet and delicious in a way that nourished her soul. She shivered as the cool spring breeze caressed her bare arms. She opened her eyes and saw she was wearing her new white and blue dress. She was standing barefoot in an orchard, and the grass was soft and damp under her bare feet._

 _Tendrils of mist hugged the tops of the mountains under the overcast sky that surrounded her. Clarke looked closer at the trees. They were peach trees! Their branches were heavy under the weight of the succulent fruit. That explained the sweet scent in the air. Rows and rows of neatly planted fruit trees stretched out as far as she could see. She took several tender steps to the nearest tree and reached for a plump peach. She bit into the most incredible thing she had ever tasted. It was better than anything that Farm Station could have dreamed of cultivating. This tree grew out of the soil on Earth, and it watered by the rain and fed by the sun instead of the artificial lights. Clarke ravenously devoured the peach and reached out for another._

 _She was startled by a noise behind her and whipped around to see what made it. A few rows over there was a dark figure picking peaches from another tree and placing them into a homemade basket. She crouched low to the ground to avoid being seen while she watched what looked like a masculine figure under a dark cloak with a hood. The figure finished filling its basket and started to move away from her. She knew it was a bad idea, but an overwhelming force propelled her forward, following the cloaked figure through the rows of trees in the orchard._

 _He walked briskly in front of her and she struggled to keep up and keep from being noticed. After several minutes of keeping up this pace, Clarke noticed a white fence off in the distance, marking the edge of the orchard. A dense, looming forest waited behind the fence, and the man in the cloak headed straight into the trees without hesitation. Clarke had never been in a forest before, and she stopped at the edge of the orchard to weigh her options, but she felt panic rising in her chest when he slipped out of sight into the woods, and she knew that she couldn't lose him so she clambered under the fence and hurried in the direction he went._

 _The ground was rough under her feet, and it hurt. The forest was darker than she'd ever imagined when she'd read about in the archives on the Ark. She caught sight of the figure walking up ahead again. Every few feet he glanced back over his shoulder like he knew someone was following him, but she couldn't see his face through the darkness, and he didn't slow down to let her catch up. After a long walk through the dark forest, the cloaked man approached a rock face covered in a curtain of vibrant green moss and disappeared behind it. Clarke crept slowly into the cave behind him. She knew that she was going to be cornered in there if anything happened, but her curiosity and the strange pull she felt toward the man urged her forward. She suddenly heard a girl's voice._

 _"You brought me peaches? I've never had a peach before!" the girl was clearly excited. Clarke wondered how she could have never had a peach when the orchard was so close._

 _As she crawled forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the girl, Clarke slipped in a puddle of water dripping from the ceiling of the cave. Her arms flailed wildly as she fell loudly to the ground. The dark figure tensed, and reached for something inside his cloak, slowly turning toward her._

Clarke jerked awake with tears streaming down her cheeks before she had a chance to see the man's face. The dream had felt so real, and suddenly she was overwhelmed with an immense feeling of loss. She'd lost Earth, and the man, and the delicious peaches. Clarke broke into loud sobs while she fought to control her breathing and calm herself back down.

"Clarke?" her dad swung open the door to her room, his face covered in concern. "What's going on, Tinkerbell?" Jake saw the tears flowing from her eyes and sat down gently on the corner of her bed.

"It was just a dream," Clarke said brokenly through sobs. "But it was so real!"

"What were you dreaming about, Sweetheart?" Jake reached over and started rubbing small circles on her back.

"I was on Earth," Clarke took a deep breath, "but it was the most real dream I've ever had about Earth. It felt so real. Now it's gone."

Understanding dawned on her father's face. "That sounds like a rough dream."

Clarke nodded, finally starting to collect herself. "I'm not sure why that upset me so much. Sorry, dad."

"Don't apologize to me," Jake said with a smile, "I'm always here if you have a nightmare."

"Thanks Dad," Clarke attempted to smile at him. "Hey, what time is it?"

"Just after twelve hundred," her dad answered promptly.

Clarke groaned. "I was hoping to sleep a bit later than this before my first night shift. I don't think I'm going to be able to fall back asleep after that though."

Clarke slipped out of bed and began preparing for the day. She still had some time before Wells would be expecting her at dinner, so she decided to head to the library and get some reading time in. She pulled her green long-sleeve shirt over her head and shimmied into her black pants.

Despite it being one of her favorite places on the Ark, Clarke hadn't been to the library in months. She'd been spending every spare minute studying to finish her General Education credits early in her family's unit because with her parents spending so much time at work, it was quieter than the library.

The Ark's library was quite different than what Clarke imagined the libraries on Ancient Earth had been like. On Earth, libraries were portrayed as quiet refuges to read and study in silence, but on the Ark the library was more like a social gathering spot. The cavernous space where Mecha and Farm Stations were joined did hold every physical book on the Ark – it was illegal to privately own paper books or remove them from the library – but there was also comfortable furniture for lounging, board games and video screens where citizens without tablets could access the data archives.

Clarke scanned her wrist to enter the facility and immediately noticed Raven seated at a table on the starboard side of the room.

"Hey smart lady," Clarke said as she took a seat next to her friend.

"Hey," Raven grunted without looking up from the tablet she was ferociously scribbling on.

"What are you doing?" Clarke prompted.

"Math." Raven answered shortly.

"But you already graduated!" Clarke protested. She hated math.

"First Shift. Two Hours. Good Impression." Clarke knew Raven well enough to know that she wasn't going to stop whatever she was doing if she couldn't even be bothered to speak in full sentences.

She turned to the bookshelf nearest Raven's table, looking for something to read. Even though all of the paper books in the library had been uploaded to the Ark's system, Clarke loved reading real books. There was something about the smell of the century-old pages and the weight of a novel in her hand that just felt right.

She noticed one of the books was turned around so that she couldn't read the spine. Curious, Clarke pulled it off of the shelf. _Middlemarch_ , by George Elliott. She hadn't read this book in a while, so she plopped herself down on a sofa behind Raven, who was still solving equations for fun, and began to read.

Clarke slowly sank deeper and deeper into the story until the world around her on the Ark had faded away. That was one of the things she loved the most about reading; even though she knew she'd spend the rest of her life physically trapped in a tin can orbiting the Earth, when she was reading she could visit all of the places she'd learned about in history class, far away on the planet below. She'd just gotten to the part where Dorthea is considering learning Latin or Greek when a deep, incredulous voice shattered her imaginary world.

"Seriously?"

Clarke looked up and felt her stomach twist when she saw Cadet Blake towering over her, wearing his threadbare civilian clothes instead of his guard uniform. He was definitely from an outer station.

"Excuse me?" Clarke was genuinely confused about why he was bothering her when he was off duty.

"You're reading my book," he said with a scowl as he jerked his chin toward the novel in her hand.

"Your book?" Clarke asked defensively in response to the undercurrent of aggression in his voice. She studied him up and down while he glowered at her. "If it's yours then why did I find it on a library shelf?" Clarke challenged him with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you for real, Princess?" he demanded angrily. "Isn't it enough that you have the luxury of reading or watching whatever you want, whenever you want, from the comfort of your own quarters," he gestured toward her tablet sitting on the chair next to her, "now you have to come in here and help yourself to the scraps the rest of us are allowed to read too?"

Clarke appraised Cadet Blake carefully before answering. She still felt a little guilty over the peach incident. The smart thing to do would have been to simply give him the book but she didn't like his attitude. Or his threatening scowl. Clarke had never really been the type of person to back down from a challenge.

"I'm just enjoying the library, like all citizens of the Ark are entitled to do," she said haughtily to the young man whose expression grew even darker.

"Yeah," he snorted, " _entitled_ is the right word for you, Princess."

He'd raised his voice and Raven's head jerked up from the table where she was working. Her gaze bounced back and forth between Clarke and the angry Cadet Blake as she tried to figure out what was happening.

Clarke bristled at the nickname. She opened her mouth to tell him just what she thought of him but he cut her off before she had the chance.

"You can literally pull that same book up on your tablet and read it. So why don't you?" His tone was still harsh but she didn't miss the faint hint of hope mingled in with it. He must have really wanted to read the book. Clarke felt herself waiver for an instant. Then she remembered that he'd called her 'Princess'.

"Because I don't have to," she said coolly. "I picked this book up first, and I'm going to finish reading it." She hoped that would show him that she wasn't going to be pushed around.

He gaped at her in disbelief. She could tell he was struggling with a comeback and she felt a little bit of satisfaction at leaving him speechless. Clarke noticed Raven get up and move closer in her peripheral vision but she refused to look over, staring instead directly into the Cadet Blake's eyes and waiting to see what he'd do next. She caught herself admiring the different shades of brown and intensity she found there.

"Fuck you," he finally said calmly, shocking her. He turned around, grabbed a random book from the shelf behind her and stomped off to a chair a few rows away from Clarke. She stared after him with her mouth open in disbelief.

"For the love of Earth Clarke," Raven chided her once he was gone. "You couldn't just let him have the book?"

Clarke was immediately ashamed of herself. She wasn't normally rude and her parents had always taught her to be respectful to people from the outer stations. Shit. Her father would be so disappointed in her if he'd seen what had happened. "I would have," she said defensively to her friend, "but I didn't like his attitude."

"You know he has a point right?" Raven was never one to hold back. "The only way he can read that book is to come to the library and hope no one else has it. You can pull it up whenever you want."

"Ok Raven," Clarke snapped as she thumbed the pages of the book, "I get it. I screwed up. I just … he just got under my skin I guess."

Raven gave her a long look. Clarke hated admitting she was wrong.

"Fine," Clarke muttered, "I'll figure out who he is and find a way to make it up to him."

"Bellamy Blake," Raven informed her as she returned to her seat and turned her focus back to her equation. "He's from Section 17."

"You know him?" Clarke asked. She was surprised to hear he was from 17. Although she'd assumed he was from an outer station, it was very rare for someone from Section 17 to ever be accepted into the Guard. That explained why she'd never seen him working in Alpha before despite the fact that he looked old enough to have been assigned at least a couple of years prior; typically, it would take a cadet from Section 17 at least a couple of years to earn enough trust from his superiors to be assigned to an inner station.

"Sure do," Raven's distracted tone told Clarke she was losing her to the math again. "He's friends with Finn," Raven continued as she began writing numbers again.

"Good friends?" Clarke asked.

"I think it's more like they run in the same circle," Raven answered her distractedly.

Clarke bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. _Bellamy_. She'd never heard his name before. She opened _Middlemarch_ again, but she was having trouble focusing on the words now. What kind of cadet spent his time reading novels? All of the cadets she knew were training in the sparring rooms whenever they were off duty.

She shook her head lightly to clear the thought from her mind. Clarke stared at the page in front of her, her eyes running over the same words again and again as she tried to focus. After her third attempt at the same paragraph, she sighed and lifted her eyes from the book across and gazed across the room.

Bellamy Blake was sprawled out on a chair scowling at the open book in his hands. If it was possible to read angrily, he was doing it. She watched his deep brown eyes rip back and forth across the pages viciously, in stark contrast to the smattering of soft freckles that danced lightly over his cheek bones.

 _Screw him,_ Clarke thought to herself, _he's so rude. If he'd just politely asked for the book, I would have given it to him. If I give it to him now, he wins._

It took at least twenty minutes before she able to get back into her book, but once she finally did, Clarke sank deeply into the world of _Middlemarch_. Several hours later, her tablet's alarm startled her out of her fantasy world. _**Wells, Food**_ the reminder message flashed on the screen. She looked around the room and realized that Raven and Bellamy had both left at some point. Quickly, she gathered up her tablet, and reached out to place the book back on the shelf. Right before she deposited it, Clarke turned it around with the spine facing inward toward the shelf like she'd found it. That way Bellamy would at least be able to find it next time he came to the library.

She left the library and headed toward the Mess Hall, unsurprised to see that Wells was already sitting at their favorite table with an empty seat across from him. She flashed him a quick grin and stepped into the chow line, grabbing an empty metal tray from the stack.

"Hey Finn," Clarke greeted Raven's boyfriend when she got to the front of the line.

"Hey Clarke," Finn said dejectedly, barely looking up at her. He disdainfully scooped up some vegetables into her tray and slid a slice of bread next to them.

"Thanks," Clarke said a little too brightly. "Hey, I was thinking – "

"Can't talk," Finn interrupted her sullenly, "gotta serve." He grabbed Murphy's tray, who was standing behind Clarke in the line, effectively dismissing her. She made her way over to the water dispenser, and scanned her chip so it would pour out her hydration ration. Then she headed over to Wells.

"We need to do something about Finn," she said as she pulled out her chair to sit down.

"Ok," Wells said immediately, then patiently waited for her to continue.

"He's miserable," Clarke said, "and it's going to make Raven miserable. I think we should invite him and Raven over to my place to watch movies and eat popcorn."

"Sounds great," Wells replied encouragingly. He never turned down an invite to the Griffin household. Clarke knew her best friend was often lonely in his quarters, because his father was tied up with work so often, similar to her own parents.

"How about the day after tomorrow?" Clarke quickly checked her schedule on her tablet, "my parents will both be working. At sixteen hundred hours?"

"Sounds likes a plan to me! Are you excited for your first shift in Medical," Wells asked and he took a bite of carrots.

"Yes," Clarke grinned, "I hope I can stay up all night though. I had trouble sleeping in this morning."

"It's definitely going to be an adjustment getting used to these overnight shifts," Wells agreed.

"What about you? Are you pumped for Earth Monitoring?" she asked.

"Kind of excited, kind of nervous," Wells answered.

"Nervous?"

"I'm just worried the other researchers are going to assume I only got the job because of my father. I don't want to be that guy," Wells stared down at his tray.

"Wells, you're always going to be 'that guy'," Clarke started. Wells' eye jerked up and immediately revealed she'd hurt his feelings. "I mean," Clarke continued before he could say anything, "that anyone who doesn't know you is going to assume certain things about you because you're the Chancellor's son. But once they start working with you and get to know you, they'll see you deserve to be there. You're the best," she smiled at him.

"Thanks Clarke," Wells said softly, holding eye contact for just a little longer than she was comfortable with. She quickly made herself busy finishing her dinner to avoid the awkwardness.

"Alright," Wells announced after a few moments. "I guess it's time to do this." They stood up and deposited their empty trays in the bin and headed out of the Mess Hall.

"Have a great first night in Earth Monitoring, Researcher Jaha," Clarke said when they reached her turnoff in the hallway.

"You enjoy Medical, Doctor Griffin," Wells winked at her.

Clarke laughed and nodded, then turned toward Medical, pulling her hair back into a braid as she walked through the familiar halls of Alpha Station. Wells had slowly been pushing the boundaries of their friendship for the past few months, and she was anxious about how to respond. It wasn't exactly that she wasn't interested in him, or that she thought he'd make a bad boyfriend, but she wasn't sure she wanted their relationship to change at all. Clarke had just reached Medical and was about to enter the facility, when she heard a noise beside her.

"Where do you think you're going," a deep voice demanded as a guard stepped out in front of her. Clarke looked up to see Bellamy Blake staring down at her angrily.

"Since when are there guards posted to Medical?" Clarke asked, surprised to see him there.

"Heightened security command," Cadet Blake replied. "So again, I have to ask, where do you think you're going?"

There were only two other times that Clarke could remember seeing guards stationed outside the doors of Medical, and both had been immediately following attempted raids by gangs from the outer stations. She wondered why the Council had considered it necessary to place guards on duty, especially since she hadn't heard any recent reports of unrest.

"Hello, Princess," Cadet Blake waved his hand in front of her face. "For the third time, where do you think you're going?"

"To work," she answered defensively, straightening her posture. "Hey! Miller!" she said, greeting her friend who she had just noticed was standing behind Bellamy facing in the opposite direction.

"Clarke?" Miller asked as he turned around to study the situation. "Dude, she's fine, let her in," he said to Bellamy.

"The orders are that I need to scan your chip first," He said coolly to Clarke with his jaw clenched instead of answering Miller. He definitely wasn't the forgiving type. She wanted to say something to clear the air between them, especially if he was going to be on duty guarding Medical.

"Ok," Clarke said as she rolled up her sleeve, "but I just wanted to say that – "

"Medical Apprentice Clarke Griffin," a robotic female voice interrupted her from the handheld scanner. "Access to Medical Bay is granted."

"All done," Bellamy said bitterly, "you may enter Medical, Princess Griffin." He stepped to the side keeping his gaze straight ahead, still refusing to make eye contact with her.

"Gee, thanks," Clarke said under her breath as she walked past him.

"Have a good first night Clarke," Miller nudged her as she walked by him.

"I'm going to try," Clarke smiled at him.

"Dude," she heard Miller say behind her as she left, "what's with the hostility? You keep acting like that and they're gonna kick you off Alpha duty and send you back to 17."

"I'm just following the orders," Clarke faintly heard Cadet Blake's clipped response.

She walked further into Medical, searching for Dr. Eric Jackson, who her mother had told her would be training her for the first cycle of her apprenticeship. She'd known Dr. Jackson for the past six years while he'd been training under her mother, and she was excited that he'd be the one guiding her through the introductory training.

"Clarke," the young, dark-skinned doctor greeted her as she almost bumped into him turning a corner. "I knew you'd get assigned to Medical!"

"Good evening, Dr. Jackson," Clarke responded politely. She knew Jackson would be reporting back to her mother at the end of the night on her performance, and she wanted to get off to a good start.

"Alright, first thing's first," Jackson said seriously. "There's a package from the Recycling Center with your new medical scrubs over in the storage area, why don't you go get changed and we'll get you sworn in as a new apprentice.

Clarke nodded enthusiastically and left to find the package. She was pleasantly surprised to see that she'd been issued two pairs of medical scrubs that were both blue, her favorite color. She slipped out of her clothes and into a pair of scrubs, packing her shirt and pants away for the end of her shift. Then she headed back to Jackson to recite her apprenticeship oath. To her dismay, Jackson was standing close enough to the entrance that she knew Miller and Cadet Blake would be able to overhear her.

Oh well, it wasn't like her career was an embarrassing one. She pulled herself up straight, raised her right hand and recited the oath she'd carefully memorized.

"I, Clarke Griffin, swear to fulfil to the best of my ability and judgement, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply, for the benefit of my patients, all measures required and permitted by the laws of the Ark. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me so that the world may know. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with obligations to my fellow human beings. I will not violate this oath, or act in contravention of the laws of our society, less I face the ultimate consequence of execution."

Jackson nodded at her as she finished the oath. "Well then, time to get to work," he grabbed a clipboard off of the wall.

"Sounds great!" Clarke said, "who's our first patient?"

"Oh, you don't get any patients yet," Jackson said and Clarke was sure she heard Bellamy snicker behind her. Clarke's face fell. "I'm going to have you sort through the medicine cabinet here and do an inventory," Jackson informed her as he passed her the clipboard and a pencil.

"Great," Clarke tried to sound excited about the task. She knew everyone had to start somewhere.

Jackson used the key around his wrist to unlock the cabinet. "So follow the labels on all of the pill bottles," he explained, "and write the total quantity of pills on the chart there. I'll be receiving patients here in the examination room next door, so just give me a shout if you need anything."

"Ok, I'll get to work," Clarke said, already pondering the ways she could keep herself awake on the most boring overnight shift imaginable. It certainly didn't help that Bellamy Blake was standing twenty feet away guarding the door and silently judging her.

Clarke settled into the task and was about halfway through her inventory Jackson's first patient arrived. Clarke hadn't heard the woman passing the guards, but she heard the concern in Jackson's voice as he sat her down to talk to her in the examination room.

"The cough's gotten worse," the woman said to Jackson with a scratchy throat, her long dark hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.

"It looks like we gave you a week's prescription of antibiotics already," Jackson said, reading her chart on his tablet as he listened to her lungs with his stethoscope.

"Yes," the woman agreed quietly.

"Did you take them as instructed?" Jackson asked while he measured her pulse.

"I did," the woman said stoically. Clarke had stopped counting the pills and was discreetly watching the woman. She couldn't have been older than forty, and she was gorgeous even though she was sick.

"Hmm," Jackson said as he studied the chart. "Clarke, come over here," he gestured to his apprentice.

Clarke stood up and joined Jackson to study the chart on his tablet. She smiled gently at the woman before she looked down.

Aurora Blake. The name clicked in her head immediately. Clarke glanced over at Bellamy standing in the doorway, of the next room, his stance extremely tense. He was staring into the examination room now, while Miller stood facing the hallway.

"Do you see the problem?' Jackson asked her.

"Ahm," Clarke turned back to the tablet and read the diagnosis and medication dosage again. "The antibiotics should have worked on her by now," she said quietly. She tried very hard not to look back at Cadet Blake as she delivered the news. She was certain this was his relative.

Aurora Blake sat silently in front of them looking at the floor. Clarke continued reading the profile on the tablet and saw the woman's occupation was listed at _Seamstress, Section 17_. Then her eyes landed on the net line: _Son: Bellamy Blake_. It was his mother! Clarke turned to look at him again, standing in another room twenty feet away, but obviously able to hear the entire conversation.

"Ms. Blake," Jackson began in a soft tone, one Clarke recognized all too well as the voice of a doctor about to give a patient bad news, "Unfortunately, we've used the maximum amount of antibiotics we're permitted to issue to a single patient. If they haven't worked yet, I'm not authorized to offer more."

The woman looked up with tears in her eyes. If Clarke hadn't already been staring at Bellamy over in the door way, she probably wouldn't have noticed the way he angrily clenched his jaw.

"What will happen to me?" Aurora choked out brokenly.

"Well, you might get better," Jackson began.

"But that's not likely, is it?" she interrupted.

"Not without the medicine, no," he replied solemnly. Clarke's mother had obviously taught Jackson the same thing she'd taught her; it was always better to be honest with a patient instead of offering them false hope.

"Are you sure there's nothing you can do?" Aurora asked Jackson with a note of desperation.

Just then the emergency bell rang on the door above them. "Code Green. Code Green. Report to Surgery," a robotic voice came from the speakers.

"Clarke," Jackson said as he thrust the tablet into her hands and rushed toward the next office, "Please issue Ms. Blake a one week supply of essential vitamins from that supply cabinet. I'll be back after the Code Green."

"Yes, sir," Clarke replied.

The woman before her was crying softly and as Clarke followed her gaze to the young man at the door, saw the pain on both of their faces, and she felt her own heart breaking. She knew that the antibiotic allowance would have been extended for a resident of a more important station, and suddenly Clarke was angry. This woman was a seamstress. It was a miracle that her son had been made a member of the Guard. Clarke wondered how that had happened; someone must have written him an excellent recommendation. He was just trying to better himself.

And now here was his mother about to be sentenced to death. No wonder he had a chip on his shoulder about the inner stations.

"Alright, Ms. Blake," Clarke began with the tiniest hint of nervousness coating her voice. What she was about to do was highly illegal, and highly dangerous. "The first thing you're going to want to do, is make sure you get lots of sleep. Sleep can help fight off the virus." Everyone in Section 17 had heard similar things in the past. Doctors told them it was possible to get better, when they knew it wasn't. Aurora's downcast eyes weren't paying attention.

Clarke moved over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the antibiotics instead of the vitamins, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure Miller wasn't looking. Aurora saw her reach for the container of precious medicine and looked up at Clarke, shocked.

"So I'm going to give you these vitamins," Clarke said, fighting to keep the panic out of her voice at what she was about to do. She'd never broken the law before. "You're going to want to take them twice a day for a week," Clarke said as she quickly counted the antibiotic pills into a small container and handed them to Bellamy's mother. The woman clutched the box to her chest and stared up at Clarke with huge eyes.

Clarke looked over at Cadet Blake, deliberately made direct eye contact with him and held it. If he turned her in, she'd absolutely be floated. The look of relief on his face was unmistakable, and she knew immediately that her secret was safe with him. She nodded to him, and he nodded back, almost imperceptibly.

Miller suddenly turned to the side and noticed that Bellamy was nodding at Clarke, and turned his head to see what was going on. Clarke froze, terrified she was about to be caught, but Bellamy leaned over with a smirk on his face, looking Clarke up and down.

"Ever seen a doctor fill out her shirt so well?" he asked, nudging Miller. Clarke felt the heat rising to her face, even though she knew he was just creating a distraction. She carefully covered the antibiotics label on the pill bottle with her hand and reached out to put it back in the supply cabinet.

Miller snorted. "Dude, I'm gay." He looked back over at Clarke again. "But if I was into that sort of thing, I could see your point." Miller turned back towards the hallway.

Clarke looked back at Aurora one more time. "You need to take every pill, it's very important that you take all of the vitamins. You understand?"

Aurora nodded her head. "Thank you," she whispered, grasping Clarke's hand.

"Of course," Clarke said softly, squeezing her back. "Now you take good care of yourself Ms. Blake. Follow all of those instructions. You look like a strong woman. Hopefully your body will be able to fight this off with the help of a lot of sleep and good vitamins."

Aurora stood up, clutching her pills tight to her chest, and walked out of Medical, lightly brushing her son's elbow as she walked by.

Clarke bit her lip and made eye contact with Bellamy once more before turning to finish her inventory, which she was going to have to lie on. All of the resentment from their first two encounters had disappeared from his graze, and he was staring at her inquisitively. She smiled quickly and turned back to the medicine cabinet, trying to ignore the accelerated beating of her heart.


	3. Chapter 3: Bad Diagnosis

Clarke slipped quietly into her family's living quarters early in the morning after her shift, and tip toed toward her room for some much-needed sleep. It turned out her attempt at stealth was unnecessary, as her mother was already up and moving around, getting ready for her day in Medical.

"Clarke," Abby greeted her with a smile, "how was your first night?"

"It was good, Jackson had me do an inventory of one of the supply cabinets" Clarke tried not to let her nervousness show as she thought about the pills she'd given to Bellamy's mother.

"Clarke," Abby smiled fondly at her daughter, "I am just so happy you've been assigned to Medical. I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks Mom," Clarke returned a smile that she couldn't stop from turning into a yawn. "It was kind of strange though, seeing guards stationed at the door," Clarke watched her mother's face carefully as she spoke.

"Clarke," Abby reprimanded, "you know I can't discussion council decisions with you. The guards are just a temporary measure, it's nothing to worry about."

"Whatever you say," Clarke countered.

"Have you checked the news announcements this morning?" Her mother changed the subject.

"No," Clarke flipped over her tablet, curiosity piqued, "What does it say,"

"Oh, nothing much," Abby pulled her thick brown hair into a high ponytail, "just that there's a Halloween dance coming up next month."

"A dance?" Clarke was confused, thinking the news would have be related to the increased security protocols she'd been noticing around the Ark.

"Yes, a masquerade dance," Abby continued, "would it be nice if you went with Wells?"

Clarke's jaw tightened. "Sure," she responded, "if Wells has no one to go with and he needs a friend to take."

Abby sighed as she turned around to leave the unit. "Well, I think it would be really nice if you went together. We could maybe even come up with a new dress."

"Mom, I don't need another new dress," Clarke said with what she hoped was a note of finality.

"Well, we'll see what happens," Abby leaned over and kissed Clarke on the cheek. "Your father's already left for work, and I'm just heading out, so you should be able to get lots of sleep before your next shift tonight."

"Bye Mom," Clarke said as Abby hurried out the door. She wished her mother would stop trying to get involved in her friendship with Wells.

Exhausted from her all-nighter, Clarke was able to fall asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, and she didn't wake up until the early afternoon. Her unit was still silent, so she figured her parents were both still working. Her stomach grumbled a bit, so she decided to head to the Mess Hall for her daily rations.

"Clarke!" she heard Raven call out as she entered the hall. She waved to indicate that Raven should save her a seat, and she headed toward the chow line with her tray. By the time she finished getting her food, Finn had sat down next to Raven, so Clarke took the seat across the table from her.

"Doctor Griffin, all finished her first shift," Raven said as Clarke sat down.

"Raven! I told you I'm not a doctor yet – "

"Yeah, yeah, technicality," Raven waved her off.

"Hey Clarke," Finn greeted her with a grin, seeming to be in a much better mood than he'd been in the day before.

"Hey Finn," she said politely, "how's it going?"

"Actually, pretty great!" Finn said enthusiastically.

"Well, that's awesome," Clarke said carefully, glancing quizzically at Raven, who shrugged. She wondered what had cause his drastic mood change.

"Hey, did you read the news yet today?" Raven gestured at her tablet.

Clarke's heart sank as she remembered the guards posted at Medical the previous night. "No, is everything all right?"

"Dude, chill," Raven chided, "they just announced a masquerade dance for Halloween."

Clarke groaned. Why was everyone suddenly so excited about a stupid dance? "I hope I'm working that night," she muttered.

"Not a fan of dances?" Finn asked her as he happily munched on his sandwich.

"No. Not really," she responded darkly.

"Clarke," Raven pleaded, "you have to go. And you have to help me make my mask! You're so creative."

"I'll make your mask," Clarke said and Raven smiled, "but I'm really hoping I can find a reason not to go."

"Hey Collins," a tall boy Clarke had seen before around the Ark sauntered passed their table before Raven could protest Clarke's disinterest in the dance.

"Dax," Finn nodded back to him quickly, before turning to Clarke and Raven again.

Dax laid a firm hand on Finn's shoulder for a moment. "See you in a few hours?"

"Yeah, I'll be there, see you later," Finn said dismissively, glancing nervously at Clarke. Seemingly satisfied, Dax nodded and continued through the Mess Hall to another table.

"She him for what?" Raven asked.

"Nothing, just this thing we're doing," Finn answered her quickly.

"What thing?" Raven pushed him.

"Raven," Finn's tone was suddenly sharp, "I said it was nothing, just drop it."

Clarke stared awkwardly at her empty food tray, not wanting to get involved. "Hey you guys," she finally remembered what she had discussed with Wells the day before, "you want to come to family's quarters tomorrow afternoon for a movie day?"

Raven glanced over at Finn hopefully.

"Yeah Clarke, that sounds great, what time do you want us there?"

"One condition," Raven said before Clarke could answer, "If little Jaha is coming, he doesn't get to pick the movie."

"Little Jaha is coming," Clarke laughed, "and we'll try to stop him from putting on a documentary. We were thinking around sixteen hundred hours."

"Sounds like a plan, Griffin," Finn smiled at her. "My break's over now though," he added, Gotta get back to work."

"Bye," Raven said sadly as Finn walked away without looking back.

"Alright," Clarke said angrily, "he gets until the end of the day to smarten up and stop being such an ass, and then I'm going to let him have it."

"I appreciate it," Raven smiled sadly, "but I don't think it's going to help."

Clarke chewed her lip for a moment. "When do you move to your new unit?" she asked, trying to change to subject.

"Two days," Raven sighed. "I'm hoping Finn and I can figure this all out before then, I'm scared if we don't he's going to stop talking to me after I leave."

"Raven, you and Finn are family," Clarke argued, "that's not going to happen."

"I hope not. Anyway, I woke up pretty early, I'm going to take a nap before my shift this evening," Raven started to gather her things.

"Raven, seriously, let me know if there is anything I can do," Clarke pleaded.

"Thanks Clarke," Raven smiled. "Hey, I'll see you tonight."

"Tonight? I have a shift tonight."

"Duh, you sent me your schedule Griffin," Raven rolled her eyes. "Routine medical exam, to explore my impeccable health and suitability to spacewalk."

"Awesome! See you then!"

Raven strutted out of the Mess Hall with her ponytail swinging behind her, and more than a few pairs of eyes trained on her as she passed. Clarke hoped her friend realized she could have any guy on the Ark that she wanted, she wasn't stuck with someone who treated her the way Finn did.

With a few hours left to kill before her shift, Clarke decided to go to the library and get lost in a book for a bit. She walked to the back of the room where the classics were shelved and immediately noticed that _Middlemarch_ was still shitting backwards in the spot where she'd left it. She reached out for it almost instinctively, before forcing her hand back down. She'd leave that one for Bellamy in case he showed up – not that she was hoping he showed up – but she wanted to make amends, especially since he knew what she'd done with the antibiotics the night before.

She reached instead for _Jane Eyre_ , which she hadn't read yet, and sank down into the same love seat she'd occupied the day before. After an hour she'd reached the part where Jane was sent off to school when she heard his voice.

"You finished Middlemarch already?" Bellamy towered over her with a confused look on his face.

"Um," she stuttered awkwardly, looking at the book in her hand, "I've actually already read that one."

Bellamy smirked and shook his head, "but you still wouldn't let me have it yesterday?"

"I'm sorry," Clarke began.

"It's fine," he held up his hand to stop her, then extended it toward her. "I'm Bellamy Blake."

"I know. I'm Clarke Griffin," she replied as she grasped his hand. An electric jolt that shot through her went they touched.

"I know. You really need to introduce yourself?" he asked. "Everyone knows who you are, Princess."

"Don't called me that," was her automatic response.

"I don't know if I can do that," he said, still smirking, "it seems to really suit you."

Clarke prepared to snap back at him, but when she caught his eye she realized he was teasing. She bit her tongue and looked up at him stupidly.

After a few awkward moments of silence, he gestured toward the empty cushion beside her, "Is this seat taken?"

"No," Clarke cleared her throat, "you can sit there."

Bellamy grabbed _Middlemarch_ off the shelf and plopped himself down next to her. She could feel the warmth radiating off of his body as he threw his legs up on the table in front of them.

Clarke found her spot in _Jane Eyre_ again, but had barely read two sentences when Bellamy interrupted her again.

"What's your book about?" He asked, still holding his closed book in his hands.

"A girl named Jane Eyre," Clarke said, pointing at the cover of her book.

"Wow, thanks," Bellamy rolled his eyes, "that was a stunning synopsis. You should consider a career in literary reviews."

Clarke bit her lip. "She's an orphan, and her aunt and cousins were really awful to her, and they've just sent her away to boarding school."

Bellamy laughed and stared at her.

"What?" she demanded.

"You identify with the poor orphan girl?"

"I didn't say I _identified_ with her," Clarke bristled, "I'm reading about her. Broadening my horizons."

"Relax," Bellamy responded to the tension in her voice, "I'm just giving you a hard time. So what happens after she goes to boarding school?"

"I thought you wanted to read _Middlemarch_?" Clarke raised her eyebrow.

"Well sure," he answered smoothly, "but if Jane Eyre is good enough for the Princess, it must be really interesting."

"Look," Clarke turned a bit in her seat to face him, "I think we got off on the wrong foot the other night."

Bellamy nodded and sat silently, waiting for her to continue.

"I'm sorry that I was rude to you," she hoped he knew she really meant it.

"I have an idea," Bellamy said, tossing _Middlemarch_ onto the coffee table. "How about you read it to me, so I can get a feel for it?" Clarke should have known it had been too much to expect an apology back from him.

"They don't teach you to read in Section 17?" she retorted.

"I can read," Bellamy's brow furrowed as he stared at her. "How did you know I'm from 17?"

"A friend told me," she answered.

"So you've been asking around about me?" Bellamy's smirk returned.

"Stop being ridiculous," Clarke blushed.

"Can I ask you a question?" he turned slightly toward her and threw his arm up over the back of the sofa, invading her space.

"Sure," she said cautiously, looking down at the book she was holding.

"Promise not to get all insulted?" Bellamy suddenly seemed nervous.

"How can I promise that if I don't know what you're going to ask?" Clarke tried for a note of humor in her response.

"Fair enough," he said, "why do you come in here to read? I don't have a choice. If I want to read I have to do it in the library. If I had a tablet, I'd stay in my quarters and read all the time."

Clarke considered the question carefully before she met his eyes and said, "I guess I just like books. Like real books with pages. I like the way they smell, and the way they feel in my hands while I'm reading them."

"You like the way they smell?" Bellamy smiled softly. "Why don't you just check them out and smell them at home?"

"We're not allowed to check them out either," Clarke answered, surprised he wasn't aware of this rule as a guard.

"Really?" he seemed genuinely surprised. "Well that's something I guess," he sighed.

Clarke rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not a bad person, you know. I didn't chose to be born on Alpha any more than you chose to be born on 17."

Bellamy glanced around to make sure there was no one within earshot, leaned in even closer and whispered, "I know you're not a bad person. After last night. That's why I want to bury the hatchet." His deep brown eyes held her gaze, unblinking.

"It was nothing," Clarke spoke quietly as she looked around nervously.

"It was everything," Bellamy grabbed her wrist and sparks shot up her arm again. "Thank you."

"She's your mother?" Clarke asked softly. Bellamy nodded, so she continued, "how's she doing?"

"Better, thanks to you," he whispered, slowly releasing her wrist, but not her eyes.

"Bellamy," Clarke said firmly, glancing around once more to make sure they wouldn't be overheard, "we can't talk about this again." He needed to forget about it before he got them both floated.

Bellamy nodded solemnly. After a few moments, he said in his normal voice, "Princess, you have no idea how much I need you to read me that book."

"Read your own book," she snapped.

"I work long, long hours as a guard," he continued as if he hadn't heard her, "I do chores at home. I only get a few hours a day for books. I'd sure like to hear someone read to me instead of having to go through the trouble of reading to myself," he finished dramatically as he stretched back in his seat.

"You're annoying," Clarke chirped, opening her book again.

"Read to me and I'll stop talking," he said.

"Fine," Clarke conceded, "But I'm not starting again from the beginning of the book."

"That's fine. I'm a fast learner," he replied in a cocky tone, "I'm sure I'll figure out what's happening."

Clarke did flip back to the beginning of the chapter and began reading. She glanced up every few minutes to make sure he was still following the story. They made it through five chapters before Bellamy interrupted her again.

"Why would she stay at that awful school as a teacher after so many bad things happened there?" he demanded.

"Because she had nowhere else to go," Clarke said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Princess," Bellamy shifted in his seat. "We always have a choice." Clarke studied his face and turned the idea over in her head for a moment.

"Clarke," she jerked back at the sound of Wells' voice behind her. "Who's your new friend?"

She turned to face her best friend. To any other person on the Ark, Wells would have sounded polite and genuinely interested in meeting Bellamy, but Clarke knew him like nobody else, and she could feel the building suspicion in his carefully trained voice.

"Wells," she cleared her throat, "this is Bellamy."

"Wells Jaha," her oldest friend extended his hand to her newest friend, as his eyes drifted to Bellamy's arm on the back of the loveseat. Clarke found herself wishing he'd move it for the first time since he'd put it there.

"Bellamy Blake," the dark-haired cadet firmly shook Wells' hand, as if he didn't already know who the Chancellor's son was.

"Clarke," Wells turned back to her, "I thought you might want to play a few rounds of chess before your shift this evening? Bellamy can play too," Wells cast he glaze back towards Bellamy, "If he knows how."

Clarke had to fight to keep from kicking Wells in the shin. She glanced at Bellamy, and then back to her best friend before Bellamy made the decision for her.

"I have to go check on my mom before work anyway," he said quickly, before adding, "see you in Medical tonight Clarke?"

"I'll be there," she smiled as Bellamy got up, "Hey, Bellamy, are you busy tomorrow afternoon?"

Wells frowned at this and Bellamy noticed. "Nope, not even a little," his cocky tone had returned and Clarke almost regretted asking him.

"Well," she bit her lip, "a few of us are getting together tomorrow to watch a movie and eat popcorn at my place. You could come if you want."

Bellamy glanced back over at Wells, who was staring at her in disbelief. "Wells is coming too. And Raven Reyes and Finn Collins," Clarke added quickly.

"Sure," Bellamy said confidently, as if he were invited into Alpha Station units every day, "I'd love to see how the other half lives. What's your unit number?"

"319," Clarke answered with a smile, "see you tonight."

"See you tonight, Princess. Nice to meet you Wells," Bellamy waved as he walked out of the library.

"What station is he from?" Wells asked too casually as he sat down and began setting up the chess pieces.

"17," Clarke replied, as she returned _Jane Eyre_ and _Middlemarch_ back to the shelf, spines facing in.

"And he works in Medical?" Wells wasn't able to hide his shock for the second time.

"He's a cadet guard," Clarke explained. "He and Miller were guarding Medical last night."

Wells frowned at that.

"How was your first night in Earth Monitoring?" Clarke asked, desperate to change the subject.

"Um," Wells looked down at the board while he considered his first move, "it was different than I thought it was going to be."

"Good different or bad different?" Clarke asked.

"Just … different," Wells answered cryptically. "He calls you Princess?"

"It's just a joke," Clarke said quickly. Wells didn't look like he believed her.

"How was Medical? Save any lives?" he asked.

Clarke felt herself tense up, "Um, no. Just did an inventory of a supply cabinet for Jackson."

Since neither of them seemed to be able to be honest with each other about their real lives, the discussion moved to chess strategy until the end of their first game.

"So my dad announced this morning that there's going to be a masquerade dance for Halloween," Wells studied the board in front of them intensely as he considered his next move.

Clarke's stomach flipped over at the thought of him asking her to the dance. She did not want to go on a date with Wells, "Ugh, not you too!" She burst out, "It's just a stupid dance."

"Yeah," Wells laughed awkwardly, "I guess it's not really that exciting."

"It's not like we won't be able to tell who everyone is anyway," Clarke added quickly, "Limited population and all."

"Totally," Wells agreed as he captured her knight with his rook. "So you make any other new friends on your first night on the job?"

"I don't know if we're friends yet, exactly," Clarke focused on the board, sure she was going to lose the second game as well. "We just seem to keep crossing paths the past few days."

"Yeah I'm sure that's just an accident," Wells muttered, capturing another one of Clarke's pawns.

"It is," Clarke said defensively, "besides, your dad's the one who's always saying we should make friends with people from other stations."

"That's true," Wells resigned, "it's good for Ark-wide unity."

"Make any friends in Earth Monitoring?" Clarke asked.

"Well there were no guards there," Wells said, "It's actually a pretty secure facility. There's an additional observation lab behind what they show us on class tours."

"Really?" Clarke was surprised she hadn't known this, since her dad had floor plans of the entire Ark in their unit for his job. "What's so important in there they have to keep it under lockdown?"

Wells shifted uncomfortably, "I think it's more like they don't want to be interrupted when they bring people inside. You miss one little piece of data in an entry form and everything is screwed up and it takes forever to find the error."

"Right," Clarke agreed, suddenly determined to find out what was going on behind closed doors in Earth Monitoring.

After their fifth round of chess, Wells was winning four games to one, when Clarke's tablet dinged with a reminder.

"My shift starts in 15 minutes," she informed Wells, "too bad you won't have the privilege of beating me again."

"You running away Griffin?" Wells smiled teasingly.

"Not a chance," Clarke stood up to leave, "I'm definitely going to even the score next time."

"Have a good shift," Wells said as she left the library.

"You too!" Clarke waved before she turned down the hall, thankful that they'd gotten back to their normal banter by the end of the afternoon.

When she arrived at Medical, Miller was standing guard alone in front of the entrance.

"No Bellamy tonight?" Clarke asked as Miller scanned her wrist. She was sure he'd said earlier that he'd be there.

"He took a walk to the bathroom," Miller was smirking at her.

"What?" Clarke demanded. She's known Miller forever and she didn't like the way he was staring at her.

"Just interesting that you were hoping he'd be here," Miller was still smirking.

"Oh, shut up," Clarke rolled her eyes as she passed him to go find Jackson.

She spent the first two hours of her shift in a back room, studying a physical examination checklist she'd been handed once she'd found her trainer. She'd gone over the entire thing four times before Jackson came back to find her.

"Alright Clarke," Jackson said as he approached, "the new Engineering apprentices are here for their exams."

Clarke followed him back into the main Medical facility and found herself searching for Bellamy at the entrance. He met her eyes and winked. Clarke blushed for the second time that day and waved as she moved closed to the Ark's newest engineers – Monty Green and Raven. She was thankful Jackson was blocking her from Raven's view at that particular moment.

"Alright," Jackson picked up a tablet and handed it to Clarke, and faced Monty and Raven, "let's examine Mr. Green together, and then we'll let you do Ms. Reyes before I double check your work."

"Yes Dr. Jackson," Clarke said politely and gestured for Monty to follow them into the examination room.

"Monty Green, Farm Station," Jackson read from his tablet, "first let's have Ms. Griffin take your blood pressure."

Monty rolled up his sleeve and smiled kindly at Clarke as she struggled with the blood pressure sleeve for a moment before inflating it.

"Blood pressure is 120 over 79," Clarke said after a moment. Jackson double-checked the reading before nodding and recording it in his tablet. Clarke continued down the checklist, asking Monty about any history of allergies and any medications he was currently taking, even though the information was all showing in his file on the tablet.

After Clarke had studied Monty's ears and eyes, detecting no defects, she assisted Jackson with hooking him up to a heart monitor in front of a treadmill.

"Ok, now you have to run on this treadmill for 5 minutes," Clarke instructed, reading again from her list.

Monty started running, and Clarke carefully recorded his readings into the file. She studied the data after the run was over and finally concluded that Monty was in perfect health. "I think he's good to approve, Dr. Jackson," she said, handing the tablet to her supervisor.

"Looks great," Jackson said after a few minutes of reviewing Clarke's readings. "You can return to engineering Mr. Green, you have been medically cleared for all duties."

"Thanks guys," Monty said happily as he left the room.

Clarke returned to the waiting area to bring Raven into the exam room. To her surprise, her friend was standing close to Bellamy and Miller, saying something to them in a voice too low for her to hear.

"I think it's your turn, Reyes," Bellamy said, nodding towards where Clarke was standing and waiting for her.

Raven left her conversation and followed Clarke into the exam room where Jackson was waiting to begin. Clarke wanted to ask what she'd been talking about with the guards, but she didn't feel it would be appropriate with her supervising doctor in the room.

Everything on Raven's exam went fine, until they got to the heart monitor. Clarke carefully sanitized the sensors that Monty had worn a few minutes prior and hooked them up to her friend. Two minutes into the stress test, Clarke noticed an anomaly on the screen, and asked Jackson about it.

"Dr. Jackson, I'm not sure if I'm reading the data correctly," Clarke said, trying to keep her voice calm and detached. "It appears as if the heart measurements are slightly off from where they should be."

"What's going on?" Raven demanded as she stopped running.

"Keep running please, Ms. Reyes," Jackson responded, "I just need to double check Apprentice Griffin's work here."

Raven's jaw clenched shut and she resumed running, much faster than she'd been running before, with a look of stubborn determination.

After a few minutes of watching the monitor, and examining the way Clarke had hooked up the sensors, Jackson asked Raven to stop running.

"Ms. Reyes, I have some unfortunate news," he said, looking up from his tablet at his patient. Clarke's heart jumped into her throat.

"What are you talking about?" Raven's anger saturated her voice.

"It appears you have a small heart murmur," Jackson explained.

"What?" Raven asked incredulously.

"It means that while I can clear you for interior maintenance and mechanics, I can't clear you for supplemental oxygen projects."

Raven's face dropped. "You're saying I won't get to spacewalk?" She asked quietly.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Reyes," Jackson said solemnly. "Protocol is that in order to work on exterior maintenance, engineers must have perfect health exam results."

Tears slowly slid down Raven's cheeks as she took in the news.

"It doesn't mean she's in danger though, right?" Clarke pleaded. "She can still live a perfectly normal life inside the Ark?"

"Absolutely," Jackson agreed.

"A perfectly normal life with no spacewalks," Raven sobbed. Forgetting about most of the bedside manner training she received, Clarke wrapped her friend in a hug.

"It's going to be ok," she said reassuringly.

"Ms. Griffin," Jackson said from behind them, "Why don't you take Ms. Reyes to her quarters? I'll message Sinclair and let him know she won't be back on shift until tomorrow night. Take as long as you need," he said kindly.

Clarke nodded slowly and helped Raven up off the exam table and out of Medical. People on the Ark were used to dreams not coming true, but it was especially hard to deal with when Clarke was watching one of her best friends lose everything she had ever wanted and worked so hard for.


End file.
